• ****Join the YF Fantasy EFL League: HERE. ****

Curtis Nelson to Cardiff

Good luck to him.
Unlike some on here, I reckon he will be very good in the Championship. Cardiff should be up there with Warnock in charge.
A much better move for him than to Sunderland, Pompey and Ipswich.

Tbh I don't think I'd be good in the Championship, it was hard enough getting picked for my school team. Would be interesting to know which members you think might be Championship quality?
 
Good luck to Nelson.

He gave his all for the cause and wish him nothing but the best moving upwards. It would have been easy for him to sulk about being stripped of the captaincy but the way he knuckled down, kept his mouth shut and got on with it is huge credit to him. He should be proud of himself and that's how a professional should act.

No complaints about him moving on.
 
Frankly I couldn’t care less where he has gone or whether it works out for him. The guy ran his contract down and left for free. Clubs of our size cannot afford for their better players to go for nothing and its hardly a time for back slapping the guy.

It’s fair to say we got him in a similar way, albeit with a hefty fee we weren’t expecting attached, and so we shouldn’t be too surprised he did the same to us. My point here is other players eg Roofe, got his move but not at the expense of Oxford Utd. Roofe deserved the plaudits and best wishes, in my view Nelson doesn’t.

The club really, really needs to learn from this, the latest of numerous players who have gone for little or no transfer fees. We need the income from one or two seven figure transfer fees every season to help balance the books. It’s hardly surprising we struggle to get deals done early when our budget is so compromised eg Stadium debacle, lower attendances and no transfer income.

I really hope they are focusing on the similar Rob Dickie situation before it’s too late.
 
Frankly I couldn’t care less where he has gone or whether it works out for him. The guy ran his contract down and left for free. Clubs of our size cannot afford for their better players to go for nothing and its hardly a time for back slapping the guy.

It’s fair to say we got him in a similar way, albeit with a hefty fee we weren’t expecting attached, and so we shouldn’t be too surprised he did the same to us. My point here is other players eg Roofe, got his move but not at the expense of Oxford Utd. Roofe deserved the plaudits and best wishes, in my view Nelson doesn’t.

The club really, really needs to learn from this, the latest of numerous players who have gone for little or no transfer fees. We need the income from one or two seven figure transfer fees every season to help balance the books. It’s hardly surprising we struggle to get deals done early when our budget is so compromised eg Stadium debacle, lower attendances and no transfer income.

I really hope they are focusing on the similar Rob Dickie situation before it’s too late.
Agree re Dickie.
But re Nelson it was him being injured for most of the previous season that screwed the club up.
 
Frankly I couldn’t care less where he has gone or whether it works out for him. The guy ran his contract down and left for free. Clubs of our size cannot afford for their better players to go for nothing and its hardly a time for back slapping the guy.

It’s fair to say we got him in a similar way, albeit with a hefty fee we weren’t expecting attached, and so we shouldn’t be too surprised he did the same to us. My point here is other players eg Roofe, got his move but not at the expense of Oxford Utd. Roofe deserved the plaudits and best wishes, in my view Nelson doesn’t.

The club really, really needs to learn from this, the latest of numerous players who have gone for little or no transfer fees. We need the income from one or two seven figure transfer fees every season to help balance the books. It’s hardly surprising we struggle to get deals done early when our budget is so compromised eg Stadium debacle, lower attendances and no transfer income.

I really hope they are focusing on the similar Rob Dickie situation before it’s too late.

Would agree if he had thrown his toys out the pram, but second half of the season he was excellent and one of the reasons we avoided relegation. He had clearly made his mind up it was his last season with us at the start of last season. I suppose if you run down your contract the club you are joining don't have to pay a fee so maybe more money for the players wage.
 
It’s fair to say we got him in a similar way, albeit with a hefty fee we weren’t expecting attached, and so we shouldn’t be too surprised he did the same to us. My point here is other players eg Roofe, got his move but not at the expense of Oxford Utd. Roofe deserved the plaudits and best wishes, in my view Nelson doesn’t.

The club really, really needs to learn from this, the latest of numerous players who have gone for little or no transfer fees. We need the income from one or two seven figure transfer fees every season to help balance the books.

I really hope they are focusing on the similar Rob Dickie situation before it’s too late.

I respectfully respond that there was very, very little this club could’ve done differently and any outcome other than what has actually happened is absolute pie-in-the-sky.

Were Curtis Nelson to have been transfer-listed in e.g. the January transfer window with six months left on his contract, we would’ve got peanuts for him, and certainly no more than we paid for him. If there were no takers then, it does nothing for his morale and his effort for the rest of the season (which as it actually transpired was exemplary).

Appreciably summer 2018 was an option, but it really boils down to how much you think we would have received for him then. I’ll wager not more than £500,000, i.e. not a lot more than we paid for him, given his nasty Achilles injury and the fact that most correspondents on this forum think he’ll only be a back up for a Division 2 club. Snowball’s chance he would have signed a new deal then!

So we’ve effectively hired his service for the last season for half a million, which given we stayed up with some comfort in the end is a bargain in my eyes. Factor in the difficulties we have in sourcing replacements of our own, and it becomes an unfortunate but no-braining decision.

I don’t love the consequences of modern football any more than you do, but we gotta blame Jean-Marc Bosman, not Oxford United Football Club. Our best course of action? Wish Curtis Nelson all the very best and yes, he does deserve backslapping for his conduct; and we’ve got to do exactly the very same thing to a smaller club in turn e.g. Liam Sercombe from Exeter.

And I’m not sure what we could possibly do differently re: Rob Dickie. The uncontrollable here is the player’s ambition (and his agent). If he thinks he’s destined for better things, he’ll not sign another deal unless he thinks we’re on the cusp of achieving them ourselves.
 
Last edited:
I wish him all the best. He was always professional and gave his all even when he didn’t sign the contract.
In my opinion he isn’t good enough for a team looking to challenge for the premiership god forbid a team getting promoted to the prem, which you have to assume is Cardiff’s goal.
 
Yes, it is the Jean-Marc Bosman (a Belgian chap) ruling that enables a player to leave free at end of the contract. Before this came in, on the basis the club held the players registration with the FA you could ask for a transfer fee. This was an EU ruling, so what happens when/if we leave the EU? Will the ruling still be carried on? What are Boris thoughts on this?
 
I respectfully respond that there was very, very little this club could’ve done differently and any outcome other than what has actually happened is absolute pie-in-the-sky.

Were Curtis Nelson to have been transfer-listed in e.g. the January transfer window with six months left on his contract, we would’ve got peanuts for him, and certainly no more than we paid for him. If there were no takers then, it does nothing for his morale and his effort for the rest of the season (which as it actually transpired was exemplary).

Appreciably summer 2018 was an option, but it really boils down to how much you think we would have received for him then. I’ll wager not more than £500,000, i.e. not a lot more than we paid for him, given his nasty Achilles injury and the fact that most correspondence on this forum think he’ll only be a back up for a Division 2 club. Snowball’s chance he would have signed a new deal then!

So we’ve effectively hired his service for the last season for half a million, which given we stayed up with some comfort in the end is a bargain in my eyes. Factor in the difficulties we have in sourcing replacements of our own, and it becomes an unfortunate but no-braining decision.

I don’t love the consequences of modern football any more than you do, but we gotta blame Jean-Marc Bosman, not Oxford United football club. Our best course of action? Wish Curtis Nelson all the very best and yes, he does deserve backslapping for his conduct; and we’ve got to do exactly the very same thing to a smaller club in turn e.g. Liam Sercombe from Exeter.

And I’m not sure what we could possibly do differently re: Rob Dickie. The uncontrollable here is the player’s ambition (and his agent). If he thinks he’s destined for better things, he’ll not sign another deal unless he thinks we’re on the cusp of achieving them ourselves.
Articulate and well put, good post.
 
If nelson was under contract with us and we could command a fee what would it be, I’d say a quarter of what we got for Matt Elliot twenty odd years ago.with the inflation of player prices that’s not a lot. Hanson cost us £400,000.
 
I respectfully respond that there was very, very little this club could’ve done differently and any outcome other than what has actually happened is absolute pie-in-the-sky.

Were Curtis Nelson to have been transfer-listed in e.g. the January transfer window with six months left on his contract, we would’ve got peanuts for him, and certainly no more than we paid for him. If there were no takers then, it does nothing for his morale and his effort for the rest of the season (which as it actually transpired was exemplary).

Appreciably summer 2018 was an option, but it really boils down to how much you think we would have received for him then. I’ll wager not more than £500,000, i.e. not a lot more than we paid for him, given his nasty Achilles injury and the fact that most correspondents on this forum think he’ll only be a back up for a Division 2 club. Snowball’s chance he would have signed a new deal then!

So we’ve effectively hired his service for the last season for half a million, which given we stayed up with some comfort in the end is a bargain in my eyes. Factor in the difficulties we have in sourcing replacements of our own, and it becomes an unfortunate but no-braining decision.

I don’t love the consequences of modern football any more than you do, but we gotta blame Jean-Marc Bosman, not Oxford United Football Club. Our best course of action? Wish Curtis Nelson all the very best and yes, he does deserve backslapping for his conduct; and we’ve got to do exactly the very same thing to a smaller club in turn e.g. Liam Sercombe from Exeter.

And I’m not sure what we could possibly do differently re: Rob Dickie. The uncontrollable here is the player’s ambition (and his agent). If he thinks he’s destined for better things, he’ll not sign another deal unless he thinks we’re on the cusp of achieving them ourselves.
The only sensible policy is to never let your better players enter the final year of their contract. Even Man City reportedly have this policy, never mind a cash strapped club like ours. If they won’t agree a new contract they are actively managed out of the club, with only one or two exceptions.

Unfortunately too many players (Dunkley, Rothwell, Ledson, Lundstram, Nelson etc, etc) have been allowed to go for reduced or no fees in recent seasons, which has set the tone for others to watch and follow their lead.

£500k would help towards, what everyone says, is extortionate ground rent fees for example. The reality is we have to start generating significant income from transfer fees for our better players when the time comes for them to leave. As I’ve said we have the disadvantage of high ground rent, no income from the stadium, lower attendances, so where is the money going to come from to fund the better players everyone wants?

I disagree that we only stayed up solely because of Nelson. The return of Eastwood, allied to bringing Long in as RB, made the defence much stronger and suddenly Nelson and Dickie found their mojo.

Unfortunately it’s hard to see how we are going to avoid exactly the same scenario with Dickie in 12 months time now unless he surprisingly signs an improved extension to his contract. These are players that should be generating seven figure transfer fees and there is no way our little club can afford to lose that revenue.
 
The only sensible policy is to never let your better players enter the final year of their contract. Even Man City reportedly have this policy, never mind a cash strapped club like ours. If they won’t agree a new contract they are actively managed out of the club, with only one or two exceptions.

Unfortunately too many players (Dunkley, Rothwell, Ledson, Lundstram, Nelson etc, etc) have been allowed to go for reduced or no fees in recent seasons, which has set the tone for others to watch and follow their lead.

£500k would help towards, what everyone says, is extortionate ground rent fees for example. The reality is we have to start generating significant income from transfer fees for our better players when the time comes for them to leave. As I’ve said we have the disadvantage of high ground rent, no income from the stadium, lower attendances, so where is the money going to come from to fund the better players everyone wants?

I disagree that we only stayed up solely because of Nelson. The return of Eastwood, allied to bringing Long in as RB, made the defence much stronger and suddenly Nelson and Dickie found their mojo.

Unfortunately it’s hard to see how we are going to avoid exactly the same scenario with Dickie in 12 months time now unless he surprisingly signs an improved extension to his contract. These are players that should be generating seven figure transfer fees and there is no way our little club can afford to lose that revenue.

There are a number of reasons for giving players extended contracts with one-year options, trouble is if they are feeling that they can compete at a higher level and aiming to see how high they can go (understandably) they will choose not to sign. I would imagine most players if not all have these ambitions before they start playing, then when they eventually reach a level they are comfortably/able to compete, they will continue to sign at that level so they can get regular games. Players will also rely on their agents and fellow players to help them decide and give realistic feedback. Looking at this scenario I would imagine that Rob Dickie is holding off to see how the season pans out up to Christmas.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom